Introducción

2018 Update: Volkswagen of America has issued a recall for this problem. If you're having this issue, considering calling your local VW dealer as this repair should be covered as part of the recall. Link to recall

My 2005 Touareg has been putting off a smell of gas that's becoming more and more noticable. When my Touareg is parked in the garage overnight, it was making the whole garage smell of gas fumes. Even when entering the car in an open parking lot, I could smell gas around the driver's side rear door.

I did some homework and found several people talking about gas smells coming from their Touaregs.

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Using a T30 Torx driver, remove the bolt that secures the clip in place.

Remove the clip. Do this by rotating the clip toward the front of the car - don't worry if you can't get it completely out. You can remove the clip after the left seatback is removed. Just be sure you can get the left seatback loose.

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To accomplish this, the seatback needs to be free of the mounting bracket toward the inside of the car (see previous step).

The seat needs to lean forward then pushed toward the center of the car to release it from the side of the vehicle.

See the pics to get an idea of the angle needed and what the mounting pin looks like on the side of the vehicle.

A couple important notes about my pictures:

The picture of the seatback leaning forward shows the seat bottom being used as a support - this was for the photo only to give you an idea of the angle. When removing the seatback, the seat bottom needs to be all the way forward.

The picture of the seat (removed from the vehicle) lets you see inside the hole that engages the mounting pin. There's a piece of plastic trim missing from this photo. My trim broke during a prior removal attempt...

I had a set from SK Tools that was very poor - the drivers were very loose when you put them in the bolt head you were trying to remove. They'd slip and strip the head of the bolt. Not recommended!

Please note that these triple square bolts are extremely tight and difficult to remove. It's not that their just tight, they have lock-tight or something on them that make them hard to remove all together. They don't just "break loose".

The official VW repair manual states these bolts are to be replaced and not re-used. VW part number for these: N 910 260 03. Available from World Impex.

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There are many connections on the assembly that will restrict you from pulling it out.

The first thing you'll run into are the electrical connections.

Pull these off and set them aside. They are going to fall into the tank. You may be able to rest them on something - or you may have to fish them out of the tank later if you lose track of them.

Notice how these connectors are installed so you can reinstall them later. One is polarized (meaning it can only attach in one direction) - the other is not. I suspect that the non-polarized connector can go on either way without harm - but I wouldn't chance it.

Pay attention to the direction it is when you take it off so you can reinstall it the same way later.

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You need to remove the fuel line indicated in the picture. This is the line that connects to the fuel filter assembly on the other end (and the other end is permanently attached to the fuel filter assembly).

Like all the other connections, this connector is removed by depressing the tab and pulling the fuel line off.

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I wanted to take a moment to thank you for this fantastic write-up! Helped me to diagnose the issue with my moms T-Reg without even lifting the rear seat up and then helped me to do the filter replacement in around 2.5 hours including pulling the seat backs out and re-installing.

It is great that you took the time while repairing yours to help us repair ours! The tool information was very helpful also.

Awesome guide, I'm about to undertake this project once I get the part. Went to base hobby shop to inspect undercarriage and decided to take the back seats out, and there it was...a cracked dome! I can't believe this vehicle has as many faults as it has cool features. Again Much Thanks and trust me, my laptop will be nearby when I tackle this in the very near future. DB, 05TREG 119k Oct2014